Korean-Style Short Ribs

Korean short ribs have an irresistible combination of sweet, salty and spicy flavors. Traditionally, the sweetness comes from sugar or corn syrup, usually half a cup or more. Thanks to Christian Chun, who submitted a fruit-based marinade for Korean-style short ribs to the Primal Blueprint Cookbook Contest, you can lose the processed sugar without losing a bit of flavor.

Fruit provides all the sweetness the ribs need. Christian’s recipe combines apple, Asian pear and kiwi. For a slightly different but equally delicious marinade, try using antioxidant-rich blackberries instead.

The sweetness of the fruit, contrasted with tamari, garlic and rice vinegar, hits all the right notes. The result is intensely flavored and truly addictive ribs. Wrapped in a cooling leaf of romaine lettuce and served with a feisty scallion salad, Primal Korean Short Ribs will add new dimensions of flavor to your table.

Ingredients:

2 pounds beef short ribs. For Korean short ribs, “flanken-style” is the preferred cut. Flanken-style ribs about 1/2-inch thick and contain three rib bones. This marinade can also be used with other types of beef, such as 1/2-inch thick sirloin steaks.

Marinade:

1/2 apple, skin on

1 kiwi, peeled

1/2 Asian pear, skin on (optional)

OR use 2 cups blackberries instead of other fruit

1/2 cup wheat-free tamari

1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar

1 tablespoon sesame oil

4 stalks of scallions, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

2-4 garlic cloves

Directions:

Chop the fruit up into chunks and put all marinade ingredients into a blender until smooth.

Pour the marinade over meat into a Ziploc bag, an air-tight container or a bowl wrapped tightly with plastic wrap. Make sure the meat is completely covered with the marinade. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.

Grill ribs four minutes on each side for rare and a minute or two longer for medium rare. The ribs can also be cooked under a broiler, but might take 3-5 minutes longer to cook.

I tried this last night. The marinade was great! It really clung to the meat and caramelized. We only had the American-cut style of ribs (fat and square) so to allow them to cook faster, I cut them into individual ribs and put them under the broiler for about 10-12 minutes per side. Still too tough and chewy for me. I’m used to slow cooking bone meats. I think next time, I’ll sear them on the stove and braise them in this marinade covered in the over for an hour, and then another hour uncovered.

We made this in the slow cooker, and I’ll suggest that you not add any water to it at all if you use that. I used about a quarter-cup of water to rinse all the marinade out of the bag and into the cooker, and ours turned out soupy -marvelous, but soupy.

I used the blackberry version as I’m allergic to kiwifruit. And right now I’m VERY full.

I’ve made this twice now, the first time with the apple mixture, the second with berries, but I used a combo of 1.5 cups of raspberries and .5 cups of blueberries. The berry mixture was delicious. I’ll eventually try blackberries once they’re available (meaning free from the bushes near my house).

I tweaked it even more in that I didn’t grill them (no grill access at the moment). Instead, I threw them in a large saucepan (with a lid), along with the marinade, and a cup or two of water. I cooked them for an hour on the stovetop on low heat, turning them every so often and mixing the slush thickening on the bottom of the pot. When most of the water has evaporated and the slush turns to sludge (coating the bottom of the pan in nearly burnt goodness), they’re perfect: tender, with a few crispy spots.

Just finished eating this with a friend, and we’re both blown away at how amazing it turned out! We followed the recipe to a tee, but we’re definitely going to try it again with other fruits! And we used a George Foreman-like grill, which turned out great!
Thanks for so many great recipes!